Russia (21st Century Crisis)
The Russian United Republics (Russian: Объединенные Pеспублики России, tr. Ob"yedinennyye Respubliki Rossii), officially known as Russia, is a country in northern Eurasia and northwestern North America. At 23,191,137 km2 (8,954,959 sq mi), it is by far the largest country in the world by total area, and with 505,864,435 people it is the world's third largest country by population. It is a federal parliamentary semi-presidential republic, comprising 158 federal subjects within 9 republics; its largest, most populous and the most economically developed republic is the Russian Republic. Its capital and by far the largest city is Moscow, which is by far the largest city and metropolitan area on the European continent and one of the largest cities in the world. It is also one of the three largest metropolitan areas in the world with over 33 million people. Other major cities includes Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Tashkent, Baku, Minsk and Kharkiv. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe and Northwestern North America, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Scandinavia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Polish People's Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Democratic Turkish Republic, Persia, Republic of Turkmenistan, Democratic People's Republic of Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, People's Republic of China, Mongolian People's Republic, Republic of Manchuria, North Korea and the United States and Canada (via Alaska). It also shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk. The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs, who emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion of Rus and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde, and came to dominate the cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus'. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland in Europe to Alaska in North America. Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union, the world's first constitutionally socialist state and one of two recognized superpowers, along with the United States, which played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite, and the first man in space. In the mid-1980s, the Soviet Union introduced the socialist-oriented market economy, similar to those of the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the world's second largest economy, largest standing military in the world and by far the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. In 1991, the Soviet Union was reformed as the Union of Slavic Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union (also officially known as the United Slavic Socialist Republics) by the Russian Slavic Federative Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Slavic Socialist Republic, Manchurian Slavic Socialist Republic, Uyghur Slavic Socialist Republic and the Byelorusian Slavic Socialist Republic; while twelve independent republics emerged from the USSR: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Baltic states regained independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; the Russian Slavic Federative Socialist Republic would later reconstitute itself as the Russian Republic and is recognized as the continuing legal personality and a successor of the Soviet Union. It is governed as a federal parliamentary semi-presidential republic. In the 1990s, the Union of Slavic Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union introduced major reforms to its government, economy, military and culture. It opened its economy to Japan, Israel and the People's Republic of China, which led to heavy investment in the sparsely-populated but well-developed Siberia. It also supported the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav Wars, and defeated the nationalists that rose up during the Ukrainian War of Independence; it emerged victorious from the war but were condemned by the United States. In the mid-1990s, most of the post-Soviet republics were unstable and suffering from economic decline and hyperinflation. It led to the former republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Moldova requesting to be readmitted into the Union of Slavic Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union. It led to the Union of Slavic Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union reconstituting itself as the Russian United Republics. In 1990 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union had the world's second highest military expenditure, which was $290 billion. However, it quickly fell to $102.7 billion as the Union of Slavic Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union slowly transitioned from a centrally planned economy to a socialist-oriented market economy. By 2019, the United Russian Republics' military expenditure finally would almost rival that of the United States' at $535.1 billion, 4.2 percent of the Russian United Republics' nominal GDP.